Thursday, April 26, 2012

New Jersey Council of Deliberation, AASR cordially invites you to a 2012 Symposium to be held on Saturday May 19 at the Valley of Central Jersey (103 Dunns Mill Road, Bordentown, New Jersey 08505) at 10:00 a.m.

We have the pleasure of hosting three outstanding men and Masons who are very well known and respected for their Masonic knowledge and research.

** This Event is Open to All Master Masons** Proceeds to benefit the Children's Dyslexia Centers** If you register online or by mail, your name will be put on the admission list. You will not receive an actual ticket

New York Past Grand Master Neal Bidnick has been expelled from the fraternity:

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Subject: In the matter of Neal I. Bidnick - Official Notice of Decision of the Commissioners of the Masonic Trial convened on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 is attached herewith.

To: All Grand Line Officers, Permanent Members, Elected & Appointed Grand Lodge Officers, Masters & Secretaries of NY Masonic Lodges, Concordant Bodies, and to all Grand Lodges in amity with the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York

And a dual member of Harmony Lodge No. 199 and Schiller Lodge No. 304,

Complainant,

--- Against

MW BRO. NEAL IVAN BIDNICK

Past Grand Master (2006 – 2008) and

A plural member of Sibelius – Bredablick Lodge No. 880,

Athelstane Lodge No. 839, Justice Lodge No. 753, Berne Lodge No. 684,

And Copernicus Lodge No. 545,

Accused.

NOTICE OF DECISION:

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the decision, signed by the Commissioners appointed to hear, try and determine the Charges preferred by RW BROTHER KURT OTT, against MW BROTHER NEAL IVAN BIDNICK, was filed in the Office of the Grand Secretary, 71 West 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010, on April 24, 2012. The Commission, comprised ofFIVE (5) PAST GRAND TREASURERS determined that by competent evidence that Past Grand Master BIDNICK did MISAPPROPRIATE FUNDS and as such, did ENGAGE IN ACTS OR CONDUCT TENDING TO IMPAIR THE PURITY OF THE MASONIC INSTITUTION OR ITS USEFULNESS, OR TO CAUSE SCANDAL OR TO DEGRADE IT IN PUBLIC ESTIMATION, OR WHICH ARE CONTRARY TO ITS PRINCIPLES, OBLIGATIONS OR TEACHINGS, and as such, Past Grand Master BIDNICK was found GUILTY of the CHARGE against him, and it was thereafter decided thatPast Grand Master NEAL IVAN BIDNICK shall be punished by being EXPELLED from the rights and privileges of Masonry.

Dated: New York, New York

APRIL 25, 2012

Submitted by:

STEVEN ADAM RUBIN, Proctor

To: GRAND MASTER

Sibelius – Bredablick Lodge No. 880

Athelstane Lodge No. 839

Justice Lodge No. 753

Berne Lodge No. 684

Copernicus Lodge No. 545

Please refer to the signed Official Notice of the Decision of the Commissioners of the Masonic Trial attached herewith as a pdf file.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

American Masons just don't have to deal with the kind of fears our European brethren seem to generate. In fact, we mostly don't see what the hubbub is all about. Joshua Levine in Business Week has an article today on why the French as a nation fears Freemasons.

Magazines and newspapers all have stories they run in one form or another, year in, year out. The details may differ, but the stories are largely the same everywhere, striking universal chords of sex, health, and money. A few of these perennials, however, don’t travel. They drill deep into one country’s psyche while everyone else scratches their heads and says, “Huh?”

In France, the story that keeps coming back is about Freemasons. It’s everywhere. Most big French magazines run at least one big Freemason cover a year. Books dissect the “state within a state,” to borrow from a recent title. Blogs abound.

“France has several of these marronniers—chestnuts,” says Alain Bauer, former grand master of France’s Grand Orient lodge and president Nicolas Sarkozy’s Masonic liaison. “There’s real estate prices and there’s how to cure headaches, and then there’s Freemasons. The ultimate French magazine story is a Freemason with a headache who’s moving. We don’t like these stories, but at the same time, we love them, because they make us feel like we’re still important.”

Huh? Yes, Freemasons: the old fraternal order known in the U.S. for the Masonic lodges that dot American cities, musty reminders of an era when Masonry stirred the American melting pot. Or for the arcane Masonic symbols engraved on every dollar bill. Or on a sillier note, for the Shriners in their red fezzes. (The Shriners were founded in the 1870s to add a little levity to regular Freemasonry. Mission accomplished.)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Online registration is now open for the 12th Annual California Masonic Symposium: The Emergence of Speculative Masonry.

This year’s discussion is guided by the research of Henry Wilson Coil Lecturer A. Trevor Stewart, Ph.D., who will investigate how the working tools and techniques of medieval stonemasons’ guilds became the symbolic platform for the ethical system we know as speculative Masonry.

Dr. Stewart will explain who some of the first speculative members were, why they were interested in the operative craft, and why operative stonemasons chose to admit them. He will also explain the changes nonoperative Masons brought to the craft and the influences of Rosicrucianism and alchemy.

Dr. Stewart’s research will be complemented by accompanying lectures from renowned Masonic scholars Shawn E. Eyer, editor of Philalethes: The Journal of Masonic Research and Letters, and Timothy W. Hogan, author of “The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual” and “The Thirty-Two Secret Paths to Solomon: A New Examination of the Qabbalah in Freemasonry.”

The lecturers will be joined by a panel of Masonic scholars: María Eugenia Vásquez Semadeni, Ph.D.; John L. Cooper, III, Ph.D.; and Past Grand Master R. Stephen Doan.

The Symposium will be held June 30 in San Francisco and July 1 in Pasadena. Please click here for online registration. We hope you will join us for this fascinating journey into the fraternity’s past.

The first International Conference on the History of Freemasonry was held in 2007 to establish whether or not Freemasonry could be considered a single separate subject worthy of its own platform. It is now clear based on the successes of ICHF 2007, 2009 and 2011 that answer is a resounding, YES. Whilst the organisers welcome invitations from Masonic bodies throughout the world to host ICHF within their own locale, there is something comforting in bringing ICHF 2013 back to where it began; Freemasons’ Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland. 2013 is significant in several respects, not least because it marks the 200th anniversary of the 1813 union of the two English Grand Lodges, the Ancient and Moderns, under the auspices of the Duke of Sussex (1773 - 1843). Undoubtedly a number of researchers will submit proposals for papers on this very subject.

The Northeast Masonic Symposium (NEMS) is devoted to providing a forum in the Northeast corner of the US a place for brothers to listen to lectures on topics of Freemasonry. To learn about Masonic history, expand their knowledge and to be inspired for their own works is the aim of the symposium for all who attend. NEMS first gathering is taking place in April of 2012 in Upsate NY. This event brings lecturers from across the country and will bring together brothers from all over the region. The symposium is constructed with several tracks of lectures, allowing its attendees to select topics of interest to them. The current agenda offers a full day of food, lectures and social opportunities.

The cost for attendance is $50 per person (plus applicable payment processing fees) and includes continental breakfast, a commemorative gift, lunch, a cocktail reception, and a full day of lectures.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Five years ago, the Masonic Information Center created the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award, to "recognize Lodge leadership for asserting a uniquely Masonic identity both within the Lodge and throughout the community that is consistent with the Fraternity's historic focus on education, self-improvement, good works, and fellowship." It's the only national Masonic award of its kind, and it represents achievement at the local lodge level. Lodges that win the Twain award are working hard to make their individual lodge just that—individual. These lodges have found ways to make their lodge unique, distinctive, educational, vital to their members, and a part of the community in which they reside.

The Masonic Information Center is a committee recognized by the Conference of Grand Masters in North America, and the Twain Award winners were announced at the Conference in Atlanta. The MIC was originally funded in 1993 by John J. Robinson, author of Born In Blood, who was not a Mason at the time. Robinson gave a grant to start the Center in order to provide information to both Masons and non-Masons, and to respond to critics of the fraternity. The Center operates as part of the Masonic Service Association of North America. For more about the Twain Award, see here.

Congratulations to the 2011 winners:

Alabama - Rising Sun Lodge #29 Decatur, Alabama

Alaska - Matanuska Lodge #7 Palmer, Alaska

Arkansas - Key Lodge #7 Siloam Springs, Arkansas

Arizona - Oasis Lodge #52 Tucson, Arizona

Illinois - St. Joseph Lodge #970 St. Joseph, Illinois

Michigan - Byron Lodge #80 Byron, Michigan

Minnesota - Red Wing Lodge #8 Red Wing, Minnesota

Nevada - St. John Lodge #18 Pioche, Nevada

New Hampshire - Benevolent Lodge #7 Milford, New Hampshire

New Mexico - Chapman Lodge #2 Las Vegas, New Mexico

Ohio - North Bend Lodge #346 Cleves, Ohio

Ohio - Oxford Lodge #67 Oxford, Ohio

Pennsylvania - Manoquesy Lodge #413 Bath, Pennsylvania

South Carolina - Mariner Lodge #2 Charleston, South Carolina

Utah - Damascus Lodge #10 Provo, Utah

Virginia - Herndon Lodge #264 Herndon, Virginia

Virginia - Fredericksburg Lodge #4 Fredericksburg, Virginia

Washington - Daylight Lodge #232 Seattle, Washington

The criteria for the Twain Award is designed to motivate lodges to plan its future and improve itself with meaningful activities that serve the needs of its own members. There's no checklist, no defined roadmap of specific items that get crossed off when completed. The goal is to motivate lodges to act for their own good, and the good of their community, and to do it in a thought out manner. The website has much information on it, but it does list suggested activities and ideas that every lodge ought to be considering, regardless of whether they are trying for an award or not.

Frustrated lodge officers are frequently hunting the silver bullet, the Big Fix that will fill their lodges and make them active and relevant to their members. The truth is, it's different for every lodge. This list is one place to start. If you've heard me speak at a lodge or grand lodge, you've heard me say over and over. Try everything, and when that doesn't work, try something else. But start by making your lodge a place YOU can't wait to come to every month, every week.

The MIC has a list of suggestions for lodges to use as a starting place to rejuvenate themselves, and while I don't want to reprint their whole website here, their suggestions are thoughtful ones:

- Apply concepts of education and self-improvements to current print and non-print communications tools of individual lodges, Grand Lodges, and national Masonic organizations and societies.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

The embattled François Stifani was reelected as Grand Master of the Grande Loge Nationale Francaise on March 30th, receiving 45% of the vote. The strong internal protest movement against him was not enough to beat Stifani, although he has suspended or expelled many who sought to unseat him. With his own actions at the center of the worldwide Masonic reaction that have resulted in numerous grand lodges withdrawing or limiting recognition of the GLNF, it seems there will be no quick solution to the situation.

A mythic past. A visionary future. A legendary brotherhood.

Freemasonry is the world's largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity. It is based on the medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Modern Freemasons likewise use the tools, traditions and terminology of those earlier stonemasons as allegories for building Temples in the hearts of men.

It's said that we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets—secrets that each individual man has to discover for and about himself.

At its core, Freemasonry is simply an attempt to make the world a better place, one man at a time. For that man, it can become as simple or as complicated as he himself desires. It's not for everybody. Maybe it's for you.

"Brother Chris Hodapp's [blog]...is thought provoking and is often the first place on the web where new ideas and matters of interest are posted."

He received his college education at Indiana University, the University of Southern California, Los Angeles Valley College, California State University at Northridge, and Indiana/Purdue University at Indianapolis.

Chris spent twenty-three years in advertising as a commercial filmmaker for Dean Crow Productions, shooting and editing close to 1,000 commercials, music videos and feature films. He has written scripts for corporate and non-profit clients, and his voice has appeared in countless television and radio commercials.

He was the editor and a contributor in 2004-5 to "Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith"by the Knights of the North, a Masonic leadership think-tank focussing on modern lodge solutions. He has written for Indianapolis Monthly, Masonic Magazine, Templar History, the Scottish Rite Journal, the Knight Templar Magazine, the Indiana Freemason , the Phylaxis, and numerous other publications.

Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon developed episode outlines for the History Channel program, Brad Meltzer's Decoded in 2010, and contributed material on conspiracies and secret societies for TruTV and the American Heroes Channel. They have both appeared on National Public Radio, the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and the American Heroes Channel - most recently in 2017 on America: Facts vs Fiction.

He and Alice live in Indianapolis with their very French poodle, Wiley.

I am a Freemason and a member of both the regular, recognized Grand Lodge of Indiana F&AM and the United Grand Lodge of England. However, unless otherwise attributed, the opinions expressed in this blog are my own, or of others expressing theirs by posting comments. I do not in any way represent the official positions of my lodges or Grand Lodges, any associated organization of which I may or may not be a member, or the fraternity of Freemasonry as a whole.

Be aware that no one person may speak on behalf of Freemasonry or present their opinion as being the "official" position of the fraternity, unless it is a grand master, and then, only within his own jurisdiction. While Freemasonry is a global fraternal organization, there is no single, authoritative, administrative Masonic body or figurehead anywhere in the world.

The unauthorized appearance of content from this site, in whole or in part, in links, aggregators, forums, comments or other websites does not express or imply an endorsement by the author.

If you are a Freemason and are lifting material from this website without attribution, shame on you.